Jeff Zucker, Today's 26-year-old wunderkind producer, turns the show into -- surprise! -- a happy family

When he became their boss, some wags at the Today show predictably dubbed him Miles Silverberg. Jeff Zucker, the 26-year-old wunderkind who was named Today's executive producer last December, just smiles at being compared to the frenetic, baby-faced producer on Murphy Brown. "I think Miles is more uptight than I am," he says.

Uptight is hardly a word to apply to Zucker these days. Try upbeat. After three years of soap-opera travails and ratings woes, NBC's morning show has almost miraculously righted itself. Katie Couric, who became co-anchor a year ago, has managed to make people forget the short, unhappy tenure...